By: Betsy on February 27, 2025
Our church was growing, and new people were joining all the time. In December 2011, I met a relatively new woman in our church who wanted to meet me in a coffee shop near our children’s schools. She produced some printed paper with Google definitions of different diagnoses, including narcissistic personality disorder, psychopathic and sociopathic…
By: Diane Tuttle on February 26, 2025
Problems are a common part of living. Solving many of them may be relatively simple. They give people confidence to try new things, thinking that the strategies for problem X would likely work for other problems. In addition, problem solving has other benefits such as giving life meaning, building mental growth, stimulating thinking and helping…
By: Joff Williams on February 26, 2025
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Jesus, Matthew 16:26, Mark 8:36, Luke 9:25 In a 2023-2024 survey of the severity of societal risks, the World Economic Forum found the following top ten risks…
By: Ryan Thorson on February 26, 2025
“I’m not sure I can do this anymore…” That was my wife and I in 2018, 8 months into our journey as foster parents. We had been trained and called to foster kids in our community as a way to serve Jesus, but had no idea the complexities of caring for young children who had…
By: Jennifer Eckert on February 26, 2025
I love watching birds, especially now that my kids bought me one of those fancy feeders with a camera that sends live stream images to my phone. Seeing each one flitting in and out, pecking at seeds with a calm purpose, makes me smile. The simplicity of their actions is a peaceful backdrop to the…
By: Shela Sullivan on February 25, 2025
‘Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are and Why They Are Important’ by Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth explores into the concept of wicked problems—complex, ill-structured, and ambiguous issues that are difficult to solve. I enjoyed reading this book for the second time. It is an easy read and practical. In some organizations, wicked problems arise when…
By: Rich on February 25, 2025
I worked for a mom-and-pop company. Pop was a pioneer in the industry who turned his experience and notoriety into a fledging business. Mom ran the business. It was a Friday afternoon. Pop was diabetic and was two days into a severe blood sugar imbalance. About 4:00, the cussing began. By 4:02, I was down…
By: Adam Cheney on February 25, 2025
Towards the end of our time living in Kenya, my family and I were deep in the muck. Truly, we so stuck in the swampy mess that we did not even really realize where we were at. We had become a bit disoriented, struggling to keep finding our way through the mess. We were unhealthy…
By: Jeff Styer on February 24, 2025
After reading Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth, Exploring Wicked Problems: I realize that our country no longer has an immigration problem; our country has an immigration mess. In this post I will define tame and wicked problems, define a mess (it may or may not be my son’s bedroom), show why immigration is a mess,…
By: Glyn Barrett on February 24, 2025
“Exploring Wicked Problems” [1] by Bentley and Toth offers a brilliant, albeit lengthy, exploration of the distinction between “wicked and tame” [2] problems. Many leaders are likely acquainted with this concept, which is difficult to dispute at its core. The authors highlight that while some problems are clear-cut and easily addressed, others are intrinsically complex,…
By: Christy on February 24, 2025
In 1973, Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber introduced the term “wicked problem” to describe the complexities and challenges of addressing planning and social policy problems. Unlike the “tame” problems that occur in science, wicked problems lack clarity in both the problem and solution. Examples include: climate change, homelessness, border control, poverty, terrorism, and healthcare access.…
By: Judith McCartney on February 23, 2025
Shaping the Future of Leadership. I read an article from Harvard long ago called “Women less inclined to self-promote than men, even for a job. My curiosity peaked when they discussed how even when a woman knows she answered 15 out of 20 questions correctly on a task and a man knows he answered 15…
By: Noel Liemam on February 21, 2025
Introduction One review stated that the rewiring of childhood has led to a decline in physical play and independent exploration which are crucial for healthy development in our children. And Haidt called for both parents and educators to recognize this issue and to adapt in order to support the mental health of the children.[1] This…
By: Julie O'Hara on February 21, 2025
In The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt provides the research behind what I thought I already knew: devices can be dangerous. Our Story It was late 2012 when our then-sixth-grade daughter convinced us she needed a phone. Her youth pastor communicated…
By: Joel Zantingh on February 21, 2025
It was a couple of years ago that I did a quick informal survey of the prevalence of mental health diagnoses among young adults in my world. It aligned with what the Canadian Association of Mental Health reported, that “Mental illness is the leading national cause of disability among those aged 15-29, with an estimated…
By: Linda Mendez on February 20, 2025
I hired someone to manage our Unhoused Mobile Shower clinic in August of last year. However, in January, they resigned. Two weeks into the job, she requested a meeting to share concerns about my leadership. I will admit it was tough to hear. I had never had an employee challenge or question me like she…
By: Chad Warren on February 20, 2025
“You’re killing me, Smalls!” I grew up watching The Sandlot, which is easily one of the most oft-quoted movies among my friends and now my kids. It reminds me of the magic of a childhood spent outdoors—pick-up baseball games, daring adventures, and friendships forged through scraped knees and summer mischief. The boys in The Sandlot…
By: Jess Bashioum on February 20, 2025
I have had leadership on my life since I was young. My mom told me that when I was 4, I would line up my dolls and stuffed animals and give them inspirational speeches about things they should do with their lives. Unfortunately, I grew up with a dad and a church community that didn’t…
By: Christian Swails on February 20, 2025
Pursuing and accepting leadership is a crash course in exposing my triggers. (so is being married and having a child). When I arrive late for an appointment, or make a scheduling mistake on a complicated work-week, or if I am questioned about….anything – my chest tightens, my breath shortens, and my body puts on…
By: Jeremiah Gómez on February 20, 2025
Scrawled across my office whiteboard is a haunting and helpful question, especially as I face painful challenges in my current leadership season: What would a GREAT leader do? How would a fantastic leader dig into my organization’s challenges and opportunities? What would they do to navigate the turbulent and dangerous waters of transition and financial…
